500 years of Belarusian book-printing

In 2017 the world celebrates 500th anniversary of Francis Skaryna’s Belarusian Bible and the beginning of East Slavonic book printing. To mark this occasion, the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum in London will hold an exhibition

TheTreasures of the Skaryna Library on 3-5 November 2017

The exhibition will include rare Belarus-related manuscripts and printed books dated from 1495, including:

a fragment of the Skaryna’s original edition of the First Book of Kings (1518);

a copy of the Statut Vialikaha Kniastva Litouskaha, 1588 (3rd edition) – the code of civil and criminal law of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania;

a manuscript of the Belarusian Tatar Tefsir (in the Arabic script), copied in 1725;

some 16th century maps from the Library’s fine cartographic collection

Programme:

Friday 3 November 5pm-8pm

– opening of the exhibition and presentation of the highlights from the Skaryna Library collection of the rare books and manuscripts;

– readings from Skaryna’s texts in the original, modern Belarusian and English;